Southern District of West Virginia

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Justice News

Mexican national sentenced to prison for Federal methamphetamine crime

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A Mexican national residing in Boone County was sentenced today to four years and nine months in prison for a federal drug crime, announced Acting United States Attorney Carol Casto. Leonel Vivian Castellanos, 28, previously pleaded guilty in November 2015 to distribution of methamphetamine.

Castellanos admitted that between May 12 and May 19, 2015, he distributed approximately 500 grams of methamphetamine to informants in Kanawha and Boone counties. On May 21, 2015, Castellanos was found in possession of another 50 grams of methamphetamine at his residence in Boone County. That same day, approximately 500 grams of additional methamphetamine that Castellanos admitted to distributing was seized during the execution of a search warrant in Kanawha County.

The Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team, Homeland Security Investigations, the Kanawha Bureau of Investigation, and the South Charleston Police Department conducted the investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer Rada Herrald is handling the prosecution. United States District Judge John T. Copenhaver, Jr, imposed the sentence.